eXtreme Blindside Blog Tour: Author Interview + Giveaway

 

Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour & Giveaway for eXtreme Blindside by Leslea Wahl, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

Title: eXtreme Blindside 

Author: Leslea Wahl 

Publisher: Pauline Books and Media 

Release Date: December 1, 2019 

Genre: Young Adult Mystery 

After winning Olympic silver, teen snowboarder Jake Taylor is struggling with sudden fame when he's offered a gig he can't refuse: becoming a spokesperson for a state-of-the-art athletic training facility. Training for its first competition, Jake relies on his faith to help him find ways to use his fame to help others . . . when athletes mysteriously start getting sabotaged one by one. Time is running out for Jake and his girlfriend, Sophie, to figure out what is going on before he is also sabotaged . . . or worse.

PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository  

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Leslea Wahl lives in beautiful Colorado with her family. Leslea is the author of three other Catholic teen novels, The Perfect Blindside, An Unexpected Role, and Where You Lead, and strives to write Young Adult novels that will encourage teens to grow in their faith through fun, adventurous mysteries.

In addition to writing her own books, Leslea has begun reviewing Catholic and Christian teen novels on her website to help families find faith-based novels. She is also one of the founding members of the joint-website CatholicTeenBooks.com.

For more information on her award-winning Young Adult mysteries please visit www.LesleaWahl.com.

CONNECT WITH LESLEA: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram  

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 Hi Leslea! Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions and giving my readers the chance to get to know you and your new book- eXtreme Blindside- a little bit better. I always like to begin these interviews the same way with something fun… tell us 5 random facts about yourself that we WON’T find in your bio!

1 - I’m a Colorado native with stints living in Washington DC and Minnesota before returning to my home state.

2 – Interesting personal experiences tend to make their way into the stories.

3 - Each of my books contain a fictionalized version of one of my pets.

4 - My Achilles Heel is chocolate.

5 - My Dream Job – I feel like I’ve had two, being a stay at home mom and now as a writer but I must admit I’m a bit envious of Survivor host Jeff Probst.

Let’s talk writing! It was quite the process getting your previous book The Perfect Blindside from idea to publication! Can you share a little bit about that process? What was your reaction when you finally saw Jake and Sophie's story in print for the first time? 

The idea for my first novel, Perfect Blindside, popped into my mind one day while I was searching for clean adventures for my own children. I really believed in this story and worked for several years to improve and polish it. Then came the painful process of sending out letters to publishers and agents. After many rejections and unanswered queries, I was thrilled when I finally found a publisher who shared my vision. But I was a little surprised that after signing the contract, it took another year and a half of working with the editors before the manuscript went to print. It was a long process but so rewarding and exciting when I was at last able to hold the actual book in my hand.

You received 35 rejection letters before finally getting that yes! What did you learn from that experience, and what advice would you offer to others who are likewise experiencing rejections be it in writing or elsewhere?

Initially, I didn’t write Perfect Blindside as a Christian novel, just a fun mystery with a good message. I believed in the story, but after sending out over 80 query letters to publishers and agents with no success, I was feeling discouraged. Then one day, I picked up a book at my local bookstore that changed everything. This YA novel had all the elements I love in a book, adventure, mystery, innocent romance, and humor. It also had an extra, surprising element—faith. The author included religion in such a natural way, which completely enhanced the story. It was a lightbulb moment for me as I realized that this was the missing piece to my story. Once I adjusted the novel, I suddenly had interest from publishers.

The publishing industry is a tough one to break into. But there are many options these days with small publishing houses and self-publishing. If you have a story you want to bring to life, I would suggest exploring the options and to keep trying to reach your goal. The greatest tips I can give is to take advice from people you respect and continue to hone your skills as a writer. My initial manuscript needed a lot of work. I was blessed to have found a writing mentor who helped me polish the novel. Also, as those rejection letters were piling up, I took the advice of the few people that sent suggestions. Sometimes their ideas contradicted the vision of my story, so I ignored them, but I carefully considered them all and found some that were quite helpful.

Can you tell us a little bit about eXtreme Blindside?

Readers are reunited with snowboarding superstar Jake and aspiring journalist Sophie from Perfect Blindside. In this sequel, Sophie has an opportunity to travel into Jake’s exciting world of extreme sports. When strange accidents start happening on the slopes, Jake becomes suspicious. And soon it’s only a matter of time before he and Sophie are tackling another mystery together—one that may prove more dangerous than the extreme sports themselves.

What do you hope readers will take away from the book? 

There are a few underlying themes in this book—keeping Christ in the center of your life as well as staying strong in your faith amidst temptations.

eXtreme Blindside takes us back to catch up with Jake and Sophie who were previously introduced in The Perfect Blindside. Will readers who have not yet read the previous book be able to enjoy this as a standalone?

Readers will of course know the characters a little better if they have read Perfect Blindside first, although it is not necessary. I made sure to include any relevant background information into the story. If readers enjoy these characters, they may enjoy going back and seeing where it all began. I’ve also written a few short stories and a published novella with Jake, Sophie, and the main characters from my novel, An Unexpected Role. One of these is offered as a free gift to people who sign-up for my author newsletter.

Thank you again for taking the time to answer my questions. Before we go, can you give us an idea on what we can look forward to next? Any other projects you are currently working on that you can share?

I have recently finished a new book, A Summer to Treasure. This story is a little different than my usual books, in that it is about a family on a summer adventure, so it explores the gift of sibling relationships. The idea for this novel came to me a few years ago while on vacation, so I’m excited to have it finally come together. I hope to find a publishing home for it soon.

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(5) winners will each receive a signed print copy of Extreme Blindside, a custom bookmark, and scented soap!

Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule linked below. Giveaway will begin at midnight June 15, 2020 and last through 11:59 PM EST on June 22, 2020. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE

 

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